Marathon Mum. Marathon Man. Get the joke? Both feature obsessiveness, shady characters from Europe, lots of running, and most notably, torture. This online journal began as I trained for the 2005 London Marathon. I successfully finished the race, but MarathonMum lives on. After all, life as a mother isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Learning Lasts a Lifetime

Yesterday I found out that my favourite journalism teacher, June Lytel-Murphy had passed away. She was an amazing woman who taught me so much about so much.

These are among the most important things she taught me:

10. A good writer is a good reader.

9. You'll get the best answers by being a good listener.

8. Heavy earrings can do damage to your earlobes. Please be careful.

7. If you have a strong opinion about something, be sure you have the facts to back up your position.

6. No female over the age of 18 should be referred to as a "girl." She is a woman. Please change the copy accordingly.

5. Don't get fancy with the word "said." No "exclaimed" or "argued" or "shouted." If "said" is good enough for the New York Times, it's good enough for you.

4. Every person in the world has an interesting story to tell. If you think a person is boring, you're asking the wrong questions.

3. Believe in yourself.

2. If you don't stick up for yourself, no one else will.

1. An enthusiastic feminist is the only type of feminist to be. (See also No. 2)

My friend Dante said it best when he wrote, "Good teachers never leave you."

2 comments:

She was a pistol! I cannot say that I am following in her footsteps in that I am not a writer, but someday I would like to be a pistol. Leslie G - I hope you read this! I was also fortunate enough to have Mr. Murphy for a class or two. He was more of the still water runs DROLL variety (if memory serves).

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About Me

Life as a mother is a marathon. You need to have patience, endurance, tenacity and a sense of humor. When you decide to run a marathon as a mother, particularly when your 1-year-old son is along for the ride, you need all of the above in spades. This blog began as a way to update my family on the progress of my marathon training, but now the blog has evolved to talk about a million other things, too. I am now working on my first novel, so if you are an agent looking for new clients, be sure to get in touch.